Monday, August 22, 2011

DemocracyNow.org - As rebels fight for control of the Libyan capital of Tripoli, President Obama and other world leaders have called on Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi to step down. On Sunday, the United States officially recognized the Transitional National Council as the legitimate governing authority in Libya. Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Gaddafi remain unknown, but three of his sons are in rebel custody. Libya's rebel chief, Mahmoud Jibril, issued a statement to Libyans in the early hours of Monday asking fighters to treat Gaddafi loyalists with dignity and respect. Democracy Now! interviews Khaled Mattawa, an acclaimed Libyan poet and scholar who is in Cairo after just returning from Libya. Also interviewed is Fred Abrahams, a special advisor for Human Rights Watch, who just returned from Libya last Thursday, and Juan Cole, a professor of history at the University of Michigan, who has been following developments in Libya closely on his blog, "Informed Comment" at JuanCole.com. "Libya has reignited the flame of liberty in the Arab world," says Juan Cole.